A single for Churchill’s $357,208 Pick 6 mandatory payout

The Churchill Downs spring meet wraps up on Sunday with five stakes and the mandatory payout of a $357,208 carryover in the 20-cent “Derby City 6” Pick 6.

Needless to say, this is a card (and a carryover) you won’t want to miss. The final Pick 6 pool could reach millions of dollars in size.

The Pick 6 gets underway in Race 6 (post time 3:18 p.m. ET), the $175,000 Maxfield S. for three-year-olds sprinting seven furlongs over the main track. Only seven horses have entered, and #6 Raging Torrent (2-1) looks like a viable single.

Raging Torrent showed talent sprinting as a juvenile, placing third in the six-furlong Best Pal (G3) behind future Grade 1 winners Prince of Monaco and Muth, but his form slipped as he stretched out over route distances. He also suffered defeats when switched to grass for a pair of early-season turf sprints at Santa Anita.

But when Raging Torrent returned to dirt for a seven-furlong $100,000 allowance optional claimer on May 4 at Churchill Downs…wow. The speedy son of Maximus Mischief set increasingly strong fractions of :22.37, :44.93, and 1:08.77 on his way to victory by 8 1/4 lengths. His final time of 1:21.13 was faster than older horses required to complete the Derby City Distaff (G1) (1:21.75) and Churchill Downs (G1) (1:21.95) on the same card, and it translated to a powerful 107 Brisnet Speed rating.

Raging Torrent’s effort was flattered when third-place finisher Jefferson Street returned to dominate a 6 1/2-furlong allowance at Saratoga by eight lengths in the fast time of 1:14.96, so it appears Raging Torrent’s 107 Speed rating is legitimate. Whether he can repeat the number is another question, but since Raging Torrent’s May 4 effort marked his first dirt sprint try since September 2023, there’s no reason to think the bay colt hasn’t simply improved with maturity.

Besides, Raging Torrent could regress a bit from his 107 and still win the Maxfield. None of his Saturday rivals have ever earned a Brisnet Speed rating higher than 96.

We’re willing to bet Raging Torrent is a future graded stakes winner in the making and single him to start the Pick 6.

Good luck!